About Grant Cooper

Since 2016 I have made seven volunteer trips to Guatemala, helping build homes in the Ixil region. On four trips I have led one of the small construction crews. The work has given me opportunities to build, teach, solve problems with limited resources, and work closely with people from very different backgrounds.

Much of the work I do there is building simple shelters for widows who would otherwise have very limited housing options. We work in small crews and build each structure on site, often with basic tools and limited resources. When I am leading a crew, my job is to make sure the structure goes together correctly, keep it reasonably square, and help people understand what we are doing and why. I try to teach by showing the process, explaining the reasoning behind it, and then letting others take over the work.

The Ixil are an Indigenous Maya people whose communities are concentrated in the mountainous region around Nebaj, Chajul, and Cotzal. The area has a difficult recent history.

In 1954, the CIA helped overthrow Guatemala's democratically elected government, beginning a period in which authoritarian and military governments increasingly dominated the country. U.S. involvement continued during the Cold War through military assistance, equipment, and training. In December 1982, President Ronald Reagan met with Guatemalan military ruler Efraín Ríos Montt, who requested U.S. weapons and ammunition. Years later, in 1999, President Bill Clinton acknowledged the American role, stating that U.S. support for military and intelligence units involved in violence and widespread repression “was wrong.”

During Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, persecution and military violence forced many Ixil families from their villages. In the early 1980s, the Guatemalan military specifically targeted Ixil communities as part of scorched-earth campaigns in the region. Villages were attacked, civilians were killed, and houses, crops, and livestock were destroyed. Men were disproportionately targeted in selective killings and disappearances, leaving thousands of widows and orphaned children throughout the Ixil region.

The war ended in 1996, but many rural communities in the region continue to face limited access to healthcare and infrastructure, inadequate housing, food insecurity, and chronic malnutrition. Returning year after year has also given me the chance to know these communities beyond the circumstances that first brought us there. Working alongside local crews, spending time with families, and returning to communities I have visited before has allowed me to form connections that I never expected when I first went. Getting to know the people and experiencing the culture has become as important to me as the work itself.